Outdoors MagazineHookaLip

July 2014

Lefty

Brown Bear Hunt

NJ Turkey HuntMaple Leaf Chromers

Colorado turkey Hunt

Rags for Chrome

Bob’s Earring

Bozeman Reel Re-

Table of ContentsPage 4 Bob’s earring

By: AG Pammer

Page 6 Brown BearBy: Louis A Cusack

Page 12 NJ TurkeyBy: Dennis Cassel Jr

Page 14 Bozeman ReelBy: Dutch McClintock

Page 16 Colorado TukeyBy: Joe Foster

Page 18 LeftyBy: Bill Elliott

Page 22 Rags for ChromeBy: Michael Hunt

Page 24 Maple Leaf ChromersBy: Scott Sklad

THANKS TO OUR FAMILIES AND FRIENDSFOR YOUR SUPPORT IN THIS ADVENTURE!

LAYOUT OF MAGAZINE: BRIAN HAGERTYOwners : Marlea Hagerty and Heather Nock

I would Like to thank all of our Writers,withand all their hard work.

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Bob's earring

The Angler considers his pursuit as a fine art, of Which merely to obtain fish is but small part — these He can get more cheaply and in greater abundance in The market. It is the way the thing is done — this and The open air, the odor of the woods and flowers, the laughter of the running water, the beauty and song of the birds, and that peace and content which open the heart of man to see and love the ever-changing beauties of nature — these give to that pastime a charm pos- sessed by no other. Though old age and infirmity come on, and the foot once familiar with wood and stream is now confined to the narrow limits of a chamber, when every other earthly pursuit has lost its zest, who ever heard even then that the enthusiasm of the angler had diminished, or that the dim eye failed to kindle at the recollection and tale of earlier triumphs with the rod. Henry P. Wells - Fly-rods and fly-tackle; suggestions as to their manufacture and use (1901)

Three of the local shop regulars, Harry, Chick and Carl were fishing on the Esopus, just abovethe reservoir and had decided to take a break on the wide gravel shore there. Passing around a ther-mos of coffee.

“Jeez, Harry, was that you? If ya gotta, at least get downwind.” Waving his hand in front of his face Carl moved over a few rocks and settled back down. “Bob's been in a foul mood the last few

days.” offered Chick to deflect the conversation. “I might know something about that.” muttered Harrylooking off to study the pool that stretched nearly to the bend in the stream.

“Well?” the other two questioned in almost one voice.After few more moments studying the pool, Harry turned “It was last week-

end, I had hooked up with Bob for a trip over to the Delaware for a day’s fishing.We were doing pretty well, the riverwas up a little after that rainy spellwe had and there was a fresh hatchstarting up. There was a bit of a

breeze picking up, making it a little difficult to get a goodcast. Bob had reeled in and was moving up streamaround behind me. I backcast not noticing he was there.Well, a gust caught that line and the fly caught Bob just asI swung forward. “Son of a B*&+*!” was greeted by my“Awww Sh**t, I'm really sorry, man.” “He must have beenpissed.” Carl said, shaking his head slowly and scratchingat an itch in an undisclosed location on his lower torso.“Well not really, you see the fly had hooked him cleanthrough the earlobe and he was kinda studying at it in the reflection off the back of the flask he usu-ally carries around. I told him it didn't look half bad there, kinda like one of them earrings some folkswear. He said “It does kinda, Well, We'll just leave it there and I'll have Joyce get it out when I gethome.” Packing up, we headed home, I convinced Bob to stop for a cup of coffee at the diner beforewe parted ways, once back in town. There were a few people there, Deputy Joe, George from acrossthe street and a couple of girls I hadn't noticed around before. Bob got a couple of curious glancesfrom the few patrons. Joe and George returned to their conversation, but the two girls just kept sneak-ing glances over at Bob.

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“ Bob” I said “them girls sure to seem to havetakin a liken to ya.”

“Don't even start, you know how jealous Joyce gets if shegets wind of me flirting around some female.” he replied getting up to leave. “I'll see ya tomorrow”and he was gone. Right after, them two girls came over andasked I if I knew were my friend had gotten the really cool ear-ring.” With that Harry got up, stretched, picked up his fly rodand began to move off. “Hey! Harry, that doesn't explain whyBob is in such foul mood.” Exclaimed Chick.

“I sent them two girls to Bob's house to ask him where he gotthe earring.” He replied as he continued to move away.

AG Palmer

Cleardrift.com

See them at Allseasonsports.com5

The Alaska Peninsula Brown Bear Hunt

Tagged Out ! For many generations old and new, these two simple words have been used to an-nounce the ending of a successful hunt and as a young man growing up in South Louisiana huntingwhitetail deer and turkeys with my father, I remember the admiration others hunters bestowed on thehunter in camp that no matter what the season or circumstances, they always filled their tags andusually well before others.

Mr Sonny Brehamann a tall dark Cajun who lived down the street from us and Paul Edwards a leanMississippi veteran of Vietnam with a look that seemed to see everything around him, who won theadmiration of others both in the field and on the battle ground were two such men. They always filledtheir tags. They were respected by others. Hunters reached out to them as a source of informationand they readily shared their knowledge with them. Members of our hunting group spoke of them likebasketball fans would speak of Michael Jordon or football fans would speak of Larry Csonka, hailedfor their success and like most good hunting stories, stretched a bit beyond reality.

I looked up to these men. I wanted to be considered a part of this elite group and I enjoyed my timespent as a card–carrying, tag-filling member of this fine group of hunters. Today’s story, however, isabout the love of the hunt and the point many of us reach where filling a tag becomes less importantthan experiencing the adventure, savouring time spent in the wilderness with friends and family andhelping others fill their tags.

I’ve always had a thirst for adventure and a passion for remote wilderness hunting and this adven-ture will take Mrs Ruth Cusack, my good friend Andrew Mueller and I to the southern end of theAlaska Peninsula on a quest for big costal brown bear. Andy’s looking to take his first brown bear andI am on the hunt for a real trophy class bear. Mrs Ruth took a great coastal brown bear in the springseason of 2012 and she is tagged out until fall of 2015. So for this adventure, she will be shooting acamera.

Hailed by some as the land of the smoking giants, the Alaska Peninsula is well known for its ruggedbeauty, long list of active volcanos and home to some of the largest salmon runs and brown bear inthe world. Each year, tourists travel to the peninsula from all parts of the globe to visit, fish, exploreand hunt this beautiful area of our state and although it is only 350 miles as the crow flies from ourhome, we’re just as excited to go there as any one of them!

Hunting brown bears on the Alaska Peninsula comes with its own set of challenges and we’reheaded back to the land where if you don’t bring it, you don’t have it and if something goes wrong, it’sall on you! This is where the 40-foot waves are seen crashing across the bows of the boats on “TheDeadliest Catch”, slam against the shoreline and where the wind can blast you off the tundra. Ourdestination is the southern end of the peninsula and we are excited for the opportunity to test our witand our skills against the best and the worst Mother Nature has to offer.

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Hunt Preparation:

Remote wilderness hunting in Alaska requires more than competence with a bow or rifle. The lo-gistics of a hunt like this requires a lot of planning and my motto has always been: “Plan Your Huntand Hunt Your Plan.”

Hunt preparation begins almost a year prior to our departure, where the logistics of getting gear, foodand flights must be coordinated well in advance to ensure that everyone and everything arrives on lo-cation.

There are many ways to plan a hunt like this and one of our first decisions is route and transporta-tion to the field. We choose to route our hunt through Kodiak Island via Sea Hawk Air which has anexcellent safety performance record and from airport pick-up to shopping to transportation in the field,they run a tight ship which provides excellent service. On Top of that, Roland and Joe are great peo-ple and we simply love flying with them.

We’ll be using a base camp, inflatable raft/motor and other bulky items which cannot be checked asluggage. These items must be shipped via air cargo several weeks in advance and on these trips. Ifind the use of a hunt planner is an absolute necessity and I use a simple excel spread sheet to planall of my hunts. I use it for everything from a check list, to a tracker, to an emergency contact list andover the years I have found that leaving a copy of the list with each party’s family members can be agreat resource and source of comfort for those not joining the trip. There’s just something about agood plan that gives everyone a good deal of confidence, knowing that you have taken everythinginto consideration. Heaven forbid it is ever needed, but in a real emergency, providing a list with eachperson’s emergency contacts along with the flight service provider and emergency services contactinformation can become a life-saving necessity.

The Hunt

Our hunt begins on May 8th with the flight from Kodiak Island to our hunt location. It is a clear windymorning and just the scenery on the plane ride in is worth the price of admission. We arrive at ourbay, where Roland makes a smooth landing in the mouth of the bay and we are quickly off loaded andsetting up base camp.

The Peninsula, which is well known for its costal winds and frequent storms, makes picking the rightbase camp location as important as remembering to bring ammo. This could mean the difference be-tween having a great hunt and chasing your base camp down the beach. I usually do my best to finda flat location with some sort of a wind break to protect our camp from the predominant wind direc-tions, usually a bluff, mountain side or clump of alders. We find our spot and after a few branch trims,and tent and bear fence setups, we are home sweet home and ready to begin searching the area forbear signs.

We wake up early the first morning to clear skies and after a quick cup of Starbucks and a bowl ofoatmeal we are headed up the bay to scout the area. About two miles up the bay we find a ridgewhich offers a good viewing site and after a short climb we are setup and glassing. I use three wellknown methods for hunting brown bears: glassing, glassing and more glassing! My theory is prettysimple: if you’re not glassing, you’re not hunting. We hike and cover a lot of ground, but mostly just togo from one glassing area to another.

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Andy is the first to find a bear - a sow with two cubs; they are just above us on the same ridge. Sheappeared to be just out of the den and in no hurry to walk down to the beach, where defending hercubs against aggressive boars looking to mate will become a frequent event. They provide us with abit of entertainment for the next several days and we had a grand ole time watching the antics of hertwo cubs, while Momma limbered-up for the trip to the beach.

Note: Brown bear boars will often kill a sow’s young cubs to force the sow back into estruses, wherethey will sometimes breed with the very same boar that killed their cubs. I spot a decent boar walkingright across the bay and bear sighting #2 is on the board. We’re finding lots of sign and bears, butnot wanting to place all of our eggs in one basket, we pack our gear to head to the coast to scout an-other location before tomorrow’s opener.

Evening finds us on the edge of a bluff glassing a long strip of coastline where we have spottedfresh sign and we are not there long before a lone wolf steps around an outcropping walking in our di-rection. We setup to make a shot on him, but the wolf catches us flat handed, scrambles up the bluffand passes in front of us in the brush without giving us a shot opportunity. What happens next is oneof the most exciting hunting moments I have ever experienced After several hours without any furthersightings, we decide to pack it up and head back to camp for a good meal and night’s sleep beforeopening morning. So far it has been a very productive day, but the tide is in and a leisurely walkdown the beach to camp is not an option. It’s time for a little alder busting which we all love and cher-ish about as much as walking barefooted over a bed of hot coals. If you have ever walked a bear trailfull of fresh sign through the alders, then you know that our pucker factor is on full puck! I have per-sonally never been to war, but several of my friends that have experienced both will tell you that doingthis and walking point in Vietnam is a close comparison. Needless to say I am on high alert when Idrop down in creek drainage and there stands old Willy Wolf locked-up and staring at me with lessthan 5 yards between us. He had completely circled us and was walking in on the same trail we werewalking out on. I am not sure who was more surprised, him or me, but he bolts, I rack my bolt andthe war is on. I get a good shot at him as he scrambles up the far bank of the creek where I am ableto make a clean kill shot on him. One wolf down and two bears spotted and we are just gettingstarted on what will be one of the best hunting trips we have ever made!

Opening Morning

May 10th, the official opening of rb370 brown bear hunting season finds us up early and back on ourspotting ridge, excited about what this day will bring. Right off, we spot mother bear again, along withher two cubs basking in the sun and the little guys provide us with a bit more entertainment until wespot a bear on a side hill way past the head of the bay. We spent the rest of the day trying to get abetter look at him, but he managed to elude us.

The next several days are spent looking at bears and hoping for an opportunity to place a stalk onone. Our entertainment crew has finally left the area for greener pastures, but with the coming ofspring we are seeing lots of migratory birds, bald eagles and we even get a visit from a very curiousriver otter. If you ever get a chance to watch these guys in their element you are in for a real treat.This one spotted us up on our knoll and he climbed up to check us out. Quite entertaining!

On morning number five a bank of fog rolls in that is thick enough to cut and eat for breakfast, butwe opted for Mrs Ruth’s breakfast burritos instead. After five days of sunshine, warm weather andtons of hiking, the little delay is a welcome break and we’ll soon find out that this late start was justthe ticket for the long long day we have in store for us.

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Around 10:30 am, the fog is breaking enough to pick our way back to our spotting knoll. We are notthere long when I spot a bear walking into an alder patch on a side hill up at the head of the bay andthe hunt is on!

We could see the bear crawl into the alders, but with some of the fog still hanging around it is difficultto track his progress. After glassing the edges of the alders for a while, we are convinced that ourbear is bedded up in them so we pack up and head after him. We slip around the bay and after amile and a half we spot him balled up in the alders having a little siesta. At this point, we are 600yards from him and Andy is starting to get excited about getting a shot on his first Alaskan brownbear.

With the wind in our favour and the old boar snoozing away, we get in single file to minimize ourfoot print and start hot footing it from one piece of cover to the next. A method I like to use for a stalklike this is to have one person advance while the other person (two in this case) watches, hopscotch-ing from cover to cover, keeping an eye on the bear to ensure we do not get busted. We manage toget within 150 yards of the bear and setup on the edge of a creek bank to wait him out. The last thingwe want to do is to try and place a shot on him in the alders where placing a follow-up shot could bedifficult to accomplish.

As the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait, and sure enough here comes the oldbruin walking out of the alders and offering Andy a great shot opportunity. Not one to pass up a goodthing, Andy is already setup on his bipod and he places a shot right in the shoulder with his .375 H&Hmagnum dropping the bear on the open side hill.

Now’s when the work begins but not before the ever vigilant Mrs Ruth reminds us that we have onlyone chance to capture this moment in pictures and video. Over the years I have learned (ok, I’m try-ing already!) that taking the time to get great quality pictures to capture a memory of a lifetime is asimportant as any other aspect of the hunt, and with a -1.7 foot tide at 10:17 and 03 sec pm (who’scounting? LOL!) We have plenty of time for pictures, skinning and a bush lunch before making thetrek back to camp.

If you’ve ever tried to reposition a 900 lb. brown bear on a side hill, you know what a task this can beand once moved these guys have a tendency to go where they will, but Andy and I manage to get himinto position for pictures and skinning. Once pictures are taken we begin the 2-hour chore of skinningand packing our bear up for the 4-mile hike back to camp. We finish in time for a bite to eat, a cup ofcoffee and evening siesta of our own before we begin the trek back, arriving back at camp in the darkat 1 am, tired and happy from a great day in the field.

We must have slept a lot harder than we thought because the following morning we wake to find thelargest set of bear tracks I have ever seen within 10 yards of the tent! Walking towards the head ofthe bay, we are hunting and from this point forward nothing less than this old boy will do. We spendthe rest of this day glassing and hoping we can get a glance of this big old bruin. Unfortunately, LadyLuck did not shine on us this day and we find where his tracks head all the way into the drainage atthe head of the bay, so we plan to spend the next day working beyond the bay and looking at newcountry.

We begin early the next morning, putting in 12 miles with a lot of glassing time in search of BigFoot, but just like the legend of The Boggy Creek Monster we believe he is, he vanishes without atrace.

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Walking out that night we spot a bear across the bay and although he is a really good bear, I decideto pass on him. As we round the corner, we bump into yet another bear. This guy’s on our side, butthe wind is not in our favour and he winds us about the same time I spot him. Like many good sizedboars he’s used to owning his territory and he only climbs about 50 feet then locks up and turns tocheck us out. About this time, we’re all scratching our heads wondering why we’ve been walking allday only to discover two great bears waiting on our return and we spend the next hour stalking,watching and taking pictures of them. By now I have had a good look at both bears and I convincemyself that neither is the bear I am looking for, so I give them both a pass.May 16th the final day of our hunt begins like every day so far with clear skies and warm sunshine.We usually bring enough goodies for a special meal celebration on at least one night of our hunt andtonight being the night, Mrs Ruth hangs back at camp to dig for little neck clams at low tide, a treat weare all looking forward to.

With Mrs Ruth staying in camp, I break out the two way radios and leave one with her in case ofemergency, which comes in handy a few hours later when she gets a visit from The Alaska StateTroopers. They had spotted Andy’s bear, salted and drying in the sun, so they land their super cub onthe beach by our camp. The next thing I know,Mrs Ruth’s calling us on the radio and TrooperJoe Wittkop is asking if we would like to have ourbear and wolf sealed. Heck Yeah! So we beatfeet back to camp where they check our license,registration permits and seal our trophies, savingus a trip once we return home. Heck, what morecould you ask for? We would like to thankTrooper Joe Wittkop for his help and for his serv-ice to our communities. He was a great guy tovisit with and treated us with courtesy and profes-sionalism.

Radios: Remember, it is against state regula-tions to use any radio communication to assist in stalking or hunting big game animals.

Now that the troopers are gone and since we are back in camp, Andy starts gathering wood for thegrill while Mrs Ruth and I work on cleaning the clams she dug at low tide. It’s celebration time andcollectively we grill New York Steaks, steam fiddle heads and sauté’ little neck clams for a feast asgood as anything you will ever find in any 5 star restaurant!

That evening, stuffed to the gills, we work our way back to the glassy knoll for my final shot at fillingmy tag. We end our last day of the hunt by placing a stalk on a boar that is working the head of thebay. He’s another fine specimen, with a good hide and colouring but I opt to spend some time enjoy-ing the opportunity to watch him and walk away in hopes that he will be around next season and allthe bigger for me having let him walk. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go!

Our pick-up morning begins, like every day we’ve experienced this hunt and like the ride out, theplane ride back to Kodiak is filled with sunshine, clear blue skies and beautiful scenery.

bolducknives.com

See Gary’s work at bolucknives.com 10

As I sit back with Roland at the helm, I haveplenty of time to reflect back on our hunt andeven though my bear tag filled count = 0, ifhelping a good friend take his first brown bear,spending time with Mrs Ruth on the AlaskaPeninsula and ten days of great weather doesnot add up to a trip of a lifetime. Well then, Iguess my calculator must be broken!

If there’s one sure thing in the world thatyou can bet your 401k on, it’s that if the GoodLord is willing, we’ll be back come the fall of2015.Seeeeee Yaaaaa!

Louis A. Cusack

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Spring Turkey Hunting In SouthernNew Jersey

Spring Turkey Season is an exciting time of year for Turkey Hunters.The cool mornings, smell of Spring in the air and sounds of Gobblerswaking up the day with that sound of Thunder is something thatmakes even the oldest, wisest turkey hunter feel like a young kidagain.

Hunting Spring Gobblers in New Jersey is a secret that has beenkept for years but is fast catching on to hunters looking to harvest anice Eastern Tom. With an ample amount of Turkeys in New Jersey,it provides a very good opportunity to hunters hoping to harvest a trophy bird or table fare.

It is important to know that Spring Turkey Season in New Jersey is handled by Permits through aLottery process handled by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (www.njfishandwildlife.com).Prospective hunters need to apply for their permits during a period which usually occurs from the endof January until the end of February. The lottery is then held in the beginning of March with Un-claimed permits available for purchase later during the month of March. When you apply for a TurkeyPermit, you must know some important information ahead of time. This will require you to make con-tact with a Guide ahead of time. Information that you are going to need to know are; What HuntingPeriod are you going to hunt? New Jersey divides permits in two ways, one of which is by HuntingPeriods. The season is usually broken down into 5 blocks of dates which are labeled as Hunting Pe-riods A through E. Additionally, you will need to know what Area you are going to hunt. New Jerseybreaks the State into 18 Hunting Areas in which Turkey Permits are issued for the spring. All of thisinformation is provided on the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Website. On my 2014 Spring TurkeyHunt, I called friend and Professional Guide Jay Sutton. Jay had guided turkey hunters for me when Iused to own my Waterfowl Guide Service and yielded an amazing near 100% success rate, for put-ting the birds into gun or bow range anyway. The shooting was up to the clients and Spring GobblerFever struck more than a few. Jay was now on his own and had some time for me.

By my opinion, Jay is one of the best Turkey Guides in the State of New Jersey. He has multiple ac-cess to property, knows the land well and more importantly knows the birds even better. I may be alittle impartial since Jay is a friend of mine but he is one of the nicest, professional, gentleman guidesthat you could chose to spend a day with.

Jay set us up on one of his properties where he had been seeing several nice Toms. On this dayshunt, I chose my trusty Benelli loaded with Federal’s Mag Shok with the Flite Control wad loaded with6 Shot. This combination gave me a pattern of 67 hits in the head and neck at 40 yards through theFactory Full Choke. No need to buy a special Turkey Choke Tube with those results.

Turkey hunting inNew JerseyJay Sutton609-352-6957 11

We arrived early which gave us ample time to set up one of my Primos Turkey Decoys and tuck awayinto our blind. We were hunting a field edge. As daybreak approached, we heard several hens mak-ing their subtle good mornings. As daylight arrived, those subtle hen callings were met with thunder.There were gobbles coming from all around us. I looked at Jay and said, “They are everywhere”. Hejust nodded as if to say I already know they are. We both couldn’t help but to laugh while tucked qui-etly in our blind.

Daylight greeted us with a Spring time morning fog. We couldn’t see even across the field. Duringthis fog, we occasionally would see outlines of turkeys in the field about 75 yards in front of us butcouldn’t make out if they were hens, jakes or the Tom that I was searching for. We patiently sat andJay would call to which he would receive the answers we were looking for. They were around, justnot wanting to come out and play just yet.

As the fog lifted, we had a hen and a Jake in the field. Jay was able to fire the hen up, to the pointshe was so angry that there was another hen out there, she came within 10 yards of us looking. Ourblind did its job. Shortly after, the Jake walked within 15 yards of us. Although he had a large body,he was not what I was looking for.

In a very short time after the Jake walked away, to our right we saw 2 birds through the brush walkingtowards our decoy. It was 2 Toms together, both were real nice birds. My heart starting pounding tothe point I think you could have seen my shirt moving. This was what I love about Turkey Hunting, Ihave shot numerous turkeys in my hunting days but something about Spring Gobbler Hunting stillgets me cranked up. The Toms walked straight towards our decoy, never breaking inside of about 50yards. They hit a point in which they seemed to get very nervous and turned and walked away. For ashort time Jay and I were perplexed by this, then we realized….

Here he came, the Boss. He was in full strut at about 60 yards behind us and to the right. This Tomruled this area. He was on a little stone lane, fan out, wings down and stretched and head tuckedhigh and back. It seemed to take an eternity for him to reach us. He never left his strut position, hewould turn left, then work it right, then move about 1 to 2 feet. This is how he worked the entire wayin. My excitement was exploding to the point I was talking to myself to try to calm down. Jay justkept chuckling and now decided to video. I thought how my friend could be doing this to me. I amtaking deep breaths trying to get myself together and he wants to laugh and video. Real Nice.

The Tom continued doing his thing. I prayed to myself, come on, 3 more feet so you clear this cedartree in front of me. The Lord answered as he was now in full strut, right in front of the bead of myBenelli, at about 30 yards. He turned to face me at which time I squeezed the trigger. There was noquestion when my gun barked. The Federal Shell that I chose to use for today’s hunt hit that Tomwith such force, it caused him to flip completely backward 1 full rotation. It was all over but the highfives. The Tom tipped the scales at 21 pounds with a 10.5 inch beard.

Dennis Cassel JR

If you are looking for a greatNew Jersey Turkey Hunting ex-perience, I strongly suggest youreach out to Jay Suttonjsutton@keengas.com

Ph. (609)352-6957) 13

The Bozeman RS 325 Reel Review.

I met Dan Rice from Bozeman Reel Company afew months back I asked him about field testing oneof their new reels for Hookalip Outdoors Magazine.What caught my Attention was, This Reel is Madeand Assembled in Montana, USA!!! To start a newcompany in this Economic time let alone a fly ReelCompany, but that's exactly what Bozeman Reel isdoing, and I was excited to Test it out. Their Spe-cialized team has Technically been designing theRS 325 Reel since 2008, it seems to be this Boze-man Reel Co. is finally making a big push to get it inFly shop's all over the Country. Bozeman's RS 325was everything I expected it to be and more! I metDan Rice at the Bozeman Angler, on the night of theF3t Fly Fishing Film Tour in Bozeman, Montana.

We had a Great conversation on the aspects of his Reel and the company goals for 2014. I wantedin on the Action! In April I went down to the shop and interviewed Dan Rice and met the Crew. Weshot some video and I was shown around the shop and through all the phases of Construction andAssembly of the RS 325. The RS 325 is put together very well to withstand the Montana Elements!Cold and Frozen!! Oh wait its Summer Time Now! Ya Right!!! Welcome to Montana, Where it can andwill snow during the summer. Now for the Specs.

The RDX Drag System is incredible! RDX utilizes Rulon and Titanium to create a tippet protecting,Monster Fish Run Stopping Drag System within an innovative new Conical Drag System!!! Sweet!The RS 325 Reel is incredibly light, yet built like a Timeless piece of Functional Art! Yup it's pretty! Ihad the Chance to put it to the Test here in Montana on the World Famous Yellowstone River, TheGallatin River and Depuy's Spring Creek. Oh Ya I forgot River X. I managed to get into some nicefish in the middle 20's and the RS 325 managed very well, I also tried it on various Rods. High Stick-en a 10' Czech Nymph Rod, as well as a 4 wt. composite Rod and a 7'3" Fiberglass custom build rod.

I have tried to stay open minded on this Rs 325 and not compare it to anything else in my Arsenal!But I couldn't help myself! It is the Best Reel out there in this persons Opinion. The Drag is so smoothand it is Virtually Silent on the River. Very Important in Montana! The RS 325 balances out very nicelyon any rod I put it on. It made the Glass rod LookClassy and the Czech Nymph Rod Looked and workedawesome with the RS 325 attached to it. I was spottedout on the River with the RS 325 Bozeman Reel and letseveral people try it out and everyone loved it! The tol-erances and attention to Detail is incredibly tight. It isoverall very dependable. I let some of my guide buddy'stry it out and they all agreed! The RS 325 Reel is ex-tremely smooth. A couple Guides actually managed afew fish over 20" on the RS 325 and they totally en-joyed it. This Rs 325 made this Rod look Sweet! It wasan Awesome 3 weeks of Fly Fishing with the Rs 325. Ifyou would like to get one you can contact BozemanReel on the web or call them at (406) 548-2858www.bozemanreel.com to find a shop near you.Thanks---- Dutch McClintock.

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for their disabilities. We want to teach veterans how toplay guitar completely free of charge, even if the veterancannot afford a guitar we will try to provide one.Company OverviewStarted by Rob Mitchell and Chris Heart. Rob is a vet-eran of OIF II, and 6 1/2 year veteran of the Albuquerque Police Department. ChrisHeart has been a professional musician for over 15 years.Chris Heart has acom-plished such creditials as 5 time instrumentalist of the year for North American CountryMusic Association,Musicial DIrector for Fiddlers Feast Theatre in PigeonForge,TN,staff musician on Carnival Cruise lines,Recording engineer at Chapel ValleyStudio,Chris has also worked for many Major Labels act on Capital Records,Univer-sal,Rounder Records,Chris has been on tv shows such as CMT, GAC,and The GrandOle Opry,Chris has a roster of endorsements and sponsorships and he continues totour and record with Artists full time.Full Battle Rattle is a group dedicated to helping

the combat disabled heal by teaching them how to play guitar FREE OF CHARGE. We are a BRAND NEW or-ganization and already have generous donations from places like Guitar Center of Albuquerque and Seven DaySeven Night Rehearsal Studio.

Find Full Battle Rattle on Facebook They NEED our support. As Sportmans of the Outdoors let’s get the word out

about Rob and his cause!!! Let’s help our returning troups!!! They have done so muchfor us it’s Time to repay them.

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Spring Turkey Hunt- Colorado 2014

Going back a ways, I always enjoyed picking up my nephews andtaking them on hunting and fishing adventures. From the time theywere both out of diapers they would come on high mountain trips.Spending long days in the field, munching on candy bars and hav-ing great times that I really enjoyed.

As they both got older their outdoor talents grew, but life as awhole interfered with opportunities to get together. My youngernephew, Jeremy, married a few years ago, to a wonderful wife,Skye, mother of 2 fine boys. Being separated by a few hundredmiles makes for difficulty getting to see one another.

When Jeremy was 13, he shot his first elk. A great shot from about 175 yards across a deep bowedmeadow. To this day I can still feel the pride and satisfaction his dad and I felt as he proudly stoodover his prize This last winter, Jeremy and I would call back and forth about meeting for a Springturkey hunt in Colorado. A canyon, not far from Cortez, has earned the well deserved name "Disap-pointment". Those who have been there know why it has that name. The people who make all thosetruck commercials should film there! If your truck can handle that area you’re going to be ok! I arrivedin Cortez the day before the hunt, got my license and a cheap pair of camo pants at the local Wal-Mart. I met Jeremy and his wife, Skye, and their 2 young sons. We talked about the old days and howit has been too long getting together. About two hours before dark we headed out to scout likely areasfor the next days hunt. Turkey's in this part of the country are known to "roost" after sundown about10 feet or higher off the ground in trees with spread branches.

This gives them a large field of view and room to fly if a predator approaches. Right out of the truckwe noted several bobcat markers. These guys are fast, ultra quiet stalkers that are excellent and effi-cient hunters. To support large numbers of these cats requires an equally large amount of smallgame, including birds.Moving slowly and quietly is paramount to scouting. All was quiet around us tillthe last rays of sun went out on the horizon. Almost to the second, a Tom barked out from a densestand of pines about 200 yards from us. My nephew, who does not need a call, broke out with a hencluck from his throat. Suddenly, we found ourselves surrounded on 3 sides by talking Toms, beckon-ing for our attention. This is where most guys will blow their chance. If we were to over call or pursuefor "just a quick look” at the next day’s prize, we are just as likely to scare off our quarry. Jeremynoted landmarks as we made a stealthy retreat out of the area.

We returned almost 2 hours before dawn and began to return to the prior evening’s location. Almost45 minutes before sunrise the quiet of the night was broken by the same 3 Toms calling. The sky hadtaken a dark blue with the glow of dawn yellows and burnt orange on the eastern horizon. I love thistime of morning when you can see the shapes of plants and trees but there is no color just black andgrays. We came to a grassy park and heard 2 Toms fighting to our right, not far off. Jeremy led usalong the edge of the park between the tree line and the sloping edge leading into the park. He spot-ted a small rise covered with sage brush standing about 50 to 60 yards from the edge of the tree line. Skye, his wife picked a spot to set a single hen decoy at the low point between the rise and slope from the trees. We laid out against the far side of the rise and were set for action. 16

The 2 Toms were still engaging each other which causedus to hurry our pace and be ready.Once we were all securely in position, Jeremy let out withhis hen call. We all got nervous when the area went deadquite. After a few minutes of hearing nothing but my heartbeating we were thinking that maybe the birds moved offand we would have to set up on another area. At that timethe silence was scattered by a huge Tom at the edge of thetree line. He had flanked us to our left and was standing ina small gravel wash. Skye sat motionless as if she hadturned to stone.

We sat motionless as he stayed between the tree line andpark using the sage brush as cover. His fantail was up and wings knocking over gravel as heworked the edge of the park. I pushed off the safety of my Benelli Nova and took aim at the gapahead of this big boy. Jeremy was whispering to me not tomiss cause this guy was big. As if on cue he came into thegap and even raised his head. The distance was about 40 to 45 yards. I put my bead on him andfired. A direct hit to the head and neck ended our standoff. He was a beautiful Merriam’s turkey, with a9 inch beard. His wings and spurs showed the battle scars of several fights. Fifteen minutes intoopening morning it was over. Time for photos and stories of a Fantastic adventure. The sun was nowover the horizon and lit up the area with early morning color. While taking the pictures we were plan-ning next year’s adventure as 2 Tom’s remained calling in the same area. We went back to the housecleaned the bird and went fishing the rest of the day at Toten Lake outside Cortez, where Skye kickedour butts catching pike.

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LEFTY

When asked to write this piece, my initial reaction was, surewhy not? Then it hit me that I would be trying to tell you abouta man who I am proud to call my friend who in so many wayshas helped shape my life, my career and the person I have be-come.

I would bet that if you were anywhere in the world on a fish-ing trip and heard his name mentioned it would be a sure thingthat they were talking about Bernard ‘Lefty’ Kreh. I know of no other person living or dead that thiscould be said about.

For me now at the age of 69 it takes me back to a place called the fly fisherman’s bookcase, andSam Melner’s grand opening in Croton N.Y. of which Lefty was the main attraction. It was on that daythat he took me out of a crowd and proceeded to teach me the true meaning of being a great flycaster. As I recall he was casting a 5 wt trout rod and after several minutes of first showing me how tocast and then in his soft quiet speech instructing me on the basic correct form. I let go a cast thatwent all the way into the backing, a feat that I had never come close to before.

So that is how our friendship began. Just what he saw in me I truly do not know but his friendshipwould change my life forever. Over the next few years our paths would cross on a more regular basisand with each meeting he showed a sincere interest in myself and my career. If you asked 100 fisher-man to describe him I’m sure you would get 100 different answers. There was and is the public man agifted entertainer and teacher, no other that I have ever seen can hold an audience like him. Manyhave tried but no others have come close. It is true that many will make the claim of being his friendbut I can tell you he is a very special person with deep convictions and does have a very select groupof friends who would do about anything to be sure that he is never taken advantage of or made to feeluncomfortable. When you can remove him from being the showman you will find a quiet and totallyhonest friend who will not mix words but give you his best judgment of a situation you may have falleninto. For me this is his greatest strength among so many.

By 1980 my wife carol and I had made themove to Chambersburg Pa. I wanted to be closeto some great trout fishing and as a secondbonus I would be but 90 miles from where Leftylived. Over the next few years this allowed thetwo of us to spend more time on the water or inthe corn fields hunting the wild pheasants of theCumberland valley. If you think Lefty is a good flycaster you should see him shoot. His time wasspent each week traveling from Thursdaythrough the weekend, leaving him three days todeal with all his business involvements frommagazine articles to new books or designing newrod tapers. He is the most organized man I have ever known and for the most part still is at 89 years of age.

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Our first adventure would take place in 1982. We had spoken the night before and he assured methat he would be at my home before 8 am. We were going bird hunting but we were dealing with newseasonable temperatures for November. An early start was important if we were to get our two birdlimit. I was standing in my driveway when his car pulled in. He got out and apologized for being at thatpoint almost two hours late. It seemed that Mark Sosin had called to discuss some things about thebook on knots they were co-writing just as he was walking out the door. I was a little upset knowingwe needed that early morning window for my dogs to produce. Things were not what I had hoped forbut we would do our best to save this day.

Just as we were starting to get things together my wife joined us. She had just gotten home fromworking the local night shift at the local hospital. She walked up to us wearing her slippers, purplenightgown, and robe. Without waiting to be introduced she lifted a jar of Skippy peanut butter lookinghim straight into his face and said”Mr. Kreh, are you staying for dinner?” Lefty burst out laughing anda bad start to this day was now well behind us. To this day he still refers to Carol as the hussy! Thatday passed way too quick for me. We both got our limits of pheasant with a few woodcocks to boot. Itruly believe that this was the day that cemented our friendship. We were just two guys enjoying a dayin the field.

Over the next three years Lefty came over several times toget some down time from his busy schedule and catch a fewgood fish. On one of those occasions I introduced him to myclose friend and fishing mentor John Snyder. Of all the people Ihave ever fished with John was by far the best trout fisherman Ihave ever seen. On several occasions I had mentioned him toLefty and today I would get them together. Having seen Leftyso many times at shows it was wonderful to see the other sideof him relaxed and just enjoying himself. He was amongstfriends with no pressure to entertain us. This was to be theirtime so once I made the introduction I left and fished by myself.I kept my eye on them and from what I could tell they were en-joying each other’s company. I am sure that enough wonderfulinformation was shared that day to write the bible on fishingspring creeks. Later Lefty said, Billy I have to agree he is thebest I have ever seen also. These getaways allowed Lefty to decompress and anytime he wouldcome over I did my best to insure that he would not be bothered by others who would want to meethim and thus take away from him being able to relax.

To give you a clear understanding of just how generous this man truly is on another occasion wewere once again scheduled to just spending a fun day fishing together but the evening before one of my closest friends had made the trip down from New York without letting me know he was coming.When Lefty arrived I explained my situation, He smiled and said “He can fish with us”. We all got intomy truck and headed off to the springs. Once there we got rigged up and took up our respected loca-tion waiting on the blizzard trico hatch that would soon follow. Almost as if set off by the time on aclock the hatch began and both Lefty and I started hooking up. I tried to keep watch of both of them tobe sure all was going as planned. What I saw was that Lefty was not fishing but rather watching myfriend David and taking notice that he was not having much luck. Before I could do anything Leftyreeled up his line and went over to David and proceeded to spend the rest of that morning giving himone on one lessons. That selfless gift of his time was the high point of David’s fly fishing life and forhis remaining years was talked about by him as the best day on the water he has ever had.

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That day taught me the true meaning of friendship,over the years I have learned so many life lessonsfrom him. A few months ago we got together andhad lunch and I did my best at that time to thank himfor helping me learn what it means to be a man.Many years have passed since those days in Pa,and I am no longer a young man. Through his in-volvement I would discover saltwater fly fishing andmove my family to south east Florida where wewould remain for the next 28 years. The thing withreal friendships is that neither time nor distance willchange them. We don’t get to see each other asoften as often as I would like but with life we learn to accept its limitations and enjoy what we have.

There are many more stories I could shareabout my friend but for me the greatest one is thatbecause of his gift of friendship over these 40 +years I am a better person for having him in mylife.

Bill Elliott

ELUSIONCAMO.NET

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RAGS FOR CHROME

Rumor has it that rags were invented by some constructionworkers in British Columbia.Apparently they set out on a last minute fishing trip and onlyhad enough money for a few beers.Lacking the funds to buy some egg sacs they concocted “TheRag”. Since they were in the construction industry backer rodwas quite prevalent. For those of you who don’t know whatbacker rod is it’s a tubular foam used for window insulation.Most of your backer rod nowadays comes in grey or white butcan be colored with a sharpie. Check your local hardwarestores for various colors and sizes. 3/8’ is the size I like to usealong with medium glo yarn in various colors. If you’re havingtrouble finding backer rod you can always use precut foamear plugs! I like the colors these come in especially the yellow ones but a great alternative to thebacker rod.

As most steelhead fisherman know; the first thing you need to figure out when you head out forsome chrome is what color are they biting on? It doesn’t matter what pattern or bait your throwing aslong as you nail down the right color. This has everything to do with light and water clarity. Steelheadreact to color more than any other sense in my opinion so you have to make that fish turn its head onyour bait. I’ve seen days on the water when pink worms or pink egg sacs were all they would hit andother days it was sunburst orange beads or estaz orange egg patters. Fishing the rag is a great wayto stock many of those colors in your arsenal. The Rag is simple and easy to make and you can getpretty creative with your favorite colors. They are also used with, sand shrimp oil scents, fish oil, andto relinquish my secret scent, vegetable oil mixed with anise extract.

To get started you will need, backer rod (3/8” or ½”), Glo Bug yarn in your fa-vorite colors, 4-6 lb fluorocarbon leader material, 4-5 mm beads (optional), andsize 6-8 octopus hooks. The tools you will need are scissors, a fly tying thread-ing devise or a toothpick and your all set. Start off by cutting the backer rod inlengths of ½’-¾’ and make as many as you can. . Once they are cut you canlay out 2 different color strands of Glo bug yarn in 12’ lengths. Using the thread-ing tool poke through the sides of the backer rod and simply thread one of theyarn strands through the side of the rod. You can pull several pieces of backerrod onto the yarn until they are evenly spaced about an inch apart. Once youhave them spaced properly just cut the yarn between the pieces of backer rod.The next step is to run the second color strand through the other side of thebacker rod so that both colors are offset of one another on the sides of the rod.These will be spaced and cut just like the first strand. Next you will want to cutyour leader material. I personally like to use 18’ lengths. Tie your hook of choice to one end and slide

a bead down on top of the hook. The final step is to thread theleader through the rag vertically so it slides down on top of thebead. Top your leader off with a loop or leave it loose for tying toa float rig or bottom bouncing rig. Now you’re ready to hit thewater.

To Book a Fishing Trip With Mike Call

302-722-399222

Most fisherman I talk to only like to use inRags in high water. I find that scaling down thisapplication you can fish them in shallower waters

if you get the weight right. I like to use Rags the size of a dime in smaller water and the size of a quar-ter in higher water. The Rag rig is very buoyant so keeping it down in the strike zone can be tricky.Make sure you get your weight bouncing correctly on your bounce rig. I see too many guys fishing thesame weight pattern in every hole they go to and not adjusting for proper depth. It could make orbreak your day so fish disciplined. If you’re running a float rig on a pinning rod then you have a great

advantage to fishing pocket water with the Rag. Bykeeping your rod tip high and back against the cur-rent you can swing the Rag behind big rocks andhold your Cleardrift float in the eddy pools so the ragis in the strike zone longer. Don’t forget to work theseams coming off of those rocks as well. Sometimesthe fish are in them heavy.

The Rag is a great tool no matter how you fish forsteelhead. Like anything else we devise to fool theever elusive steelhead species its best to go withwhat you know works for you and what you haveconfidence in fishing ,so play around with colors ,sizes ,and bead combinations and have fun outthere. Try running a pink worm below the rag or even

a small egg sac. You never know for sure what’s going to turn that fish of a lifetime to the end of yourline. That’s why we stay on the hunt for the latest fly or newest rig and who knows the next hot newidea could be yours.

Michael Hunt

Steelhead trips on the Salmon River - 3 days 2 nights includes lodging and license (7 day pass) ($600)perpersonThis is a walk in trip -waders are provided but its better to bring your own.All gear is provided except warmclothing.Please bring many thin layers and thermal or smartwool under layers and a warm coat.You and yourguest will fish for two full days and up until 10:30 am on the third day.Food and drinks are not included.

Brown Trout trips in western NY tributaries -3 days 2 nights includes lodging and license (7 day pass)($800)per person This is a walk in trip-waders are provided but its better to bring your own.All gear is provided except warm cloth-ing.Please bring many thin layers and thermal or smart wool under layers and a warm coat.You and your guestwill fish for 2 full days and up till 10:30 am on the third day.Food and drinks are not included.

These trips are not relegated to 3 days and can be extended ! Call Mike 302-722-399223

Maple Leaf Cromer’s

As I sit at my laptop, tapping at the keys, I look out the window andknow that I will soon be wading through some river in Southern On-tario looking for Steelhead. Just a littlebackground information, the steelhead isa migratory rainbow trout that, in mostcases go upriver to spawn in spring andfall. For some the opening of trout seasonon the last weekend of April is a time forbonding for the fisher people. Many fish-ers travel great distances to camp outand begin a new fishing season withfriends old and new. Steelhead can be aselusive a ghost but if you can locate themand if they are on the feed, hang on because you are in for a treat.

SPIN FISHING

There are three main ways to fish for these chrome beauties;spin rod, fly rod and centre pinning. When I first started fishingfor steelhead, spinning gear was the method I used. It is one of themore versatile ways to fish as you can use different size spinnersranging from size number 0 all the way up to a number 3. Spinnerscome with different size blades that can vary the amount of flashgiven off and to sink at different rates. In my experience, the Col-orado-blade spinner, with its larger surface blade, is best forshallow pools and slower runs as it will ride higher in the watercolumn. I have found a French-blade spinner is better for deeperpools and faster runs because the smaller, narrower, blade onthe spinner, results in less drag in the water and will get yourlure down to the deep parts of the water quicker.

The best way to use spinners is to cast across and up stream ofyour target area. After you cast, wait and let the spinner sinkabout a foot down into the water and then slowly start to re-trieve. This will start the spinner spinning and the lure will startto swing sideways toward you, Hang on as strikes can be hard andfast!

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One trick I have used in the past is to tease big males with is a Wob-bling Plug such as a Kwickfish, Flatfish or Tadpolly. You need to becareful that the fish does not see you. It’s best to stand at leastten or fifteen feet in front of the fish in order to be able to driftthe lure slowly back, causing the lure to wobble and dive in frontof them causing a strike out of aggression.

Fishing with a float, split shot and hook leaves many optionsfor bait. The most commonly used bait is roe, salmon, brown troutor steelhead eggs. Being the conversationalist that I am, I usuallybuy my roe from a store. That way you don’t sacrifice any fish justfor her roe, keeping your river healthy. When I am choosing whichcolor and size of mesh material to make up my bags, the rules I fol-low are use bright colors and larger bags in dirty, murky waterand more natural colors and smaller bags in clear water. Pic-tured below is an example of a simple set up but getting it right canstill take some practice.

Bottom bouncing is another method that I use but it is a littletougher to master. With some practice it can be deadly on fish infast pools and quick water runs. When bottom bouncing you needto get the weight just right, so that they are ticking the bottom.It’s one of the hardest things to do. The next tough part, is tellingthe difference between rocks, snags or fish. You need to be able tokeep your line tight as too much slack will cause drag and will notlook natural and you will end up getting snagged more often. Bykeeping your rod tip between two and three o’clock and followingyour line with the rod tip, if the rig stops, set the hook. Some fish-ers tend to lift the rod slowly thinking they are snagged when re-ally it’s a fish and they end up losing it.

FLY FISHING

If you haven’t tried fly fishing I recommend giving it a chance itis great fun and is one of my favourite ways to fish. Fly fishinglooks much harder that it is. Being the first in my family to fly fish, Ididn’t have the time honoured tradition of spending time with lovedones teaching me the tricks or art of fly fishing. I read books,watched shows and videos. I am by far no master of the arts but ifyou are able to get your fly more than twenty to thirty feet awayfrom you, you can usually get into some fish. When fly fishing forsteelhead I would use a seven weight rod or larger because steel-head in Southern Ontario can be rod busters.

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Swinging a fly can be one of the easier ways to catch a steelhead.First make a mental grid in your mind of the river and make quartercasts up stream. You don’t want your line to drag so mend the line,mending takes the belly out of the line that the current has put in.To do this you need to take your rod tip and give it a little flip awayfrom the current in order to make your drift look more natural.You may need to do this more than once per cast depending on howfast the current is.

When swinging flies you can use both nymphs and streamers.The strikes, when nymph swinging can be very subtle and may takesome time to get the feel. You also need to watch your line totighten up and then set the hook. Swinging big streamers is a bit dif-ferent than nymphs. Streamers are big and are supposed to resem-ble water dwellers such minnows, leaches, crayfish or dragonflynymphs. As with the nymph swinging you want to quarter your castsand mend your line as needed but at the end of your swing when thestreamer is parallel with you in the river, pause and let thestreamer rise a little, then slowly strip it back to you. I’ve takenquite a few fish on the pause as the fish think the rising streamer isgetting away. The strikes from this kind of fishing, feels like therod is coming out of your hands so hold on tight.

CENTER PIN FISHING

Center pin drift fishing is also known as float fishing. This isthe type of fishing that I do the most these days. I’ve been pinningfor roughly twenty years and though this may seem like a long time,I learn new things about this technique all the time. I usually use athirteen and a half foot rod and ten pound main line. This length ofrod helps with line control and mending. I carry different sizesand styles of floats. The same goes for hooks and split shots.Water color and level will decide what size and color floats I use.Typically I will use clear smaller floats in low clear water andbigger highly visible floats in stained water. When visibility is low Ialso choose a larger hook size. The main function of a centre pinreel is the ability to make long drifts.

Like a spinning rod, a float fishing rod can handle a number ofdifferent baits. Baits that I have found to work the best are roebags, small jigs, worms and beads. When fishing with a float andthe bait of choice, getting your depth and weight right is the key.You want your bait in the strike zone as much as possible and thatmeans just off the bottom of the river, creek or stream you are in.

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The float that you are usingneeds to be sitting straight up in thewater in order for the bait to driftnaturally. If your float is pointingdownstream, then your length fromthe float to the hook is too long andthe bait is probably dragging on thebottom.

I like to have a main line of no lessthan ten pound mono on my reel.When rigging your rod, have your mainline go through the fixed float and mysplit shot also attached to the main-line. Spacing the shot depends on theriver conditions and personal preference. I tie a barrel swivel tothe end of the main line. The other end of the swivel I attach a fluo-rocarbon leader. I use a leader of eighteen to twenty four inches.The hooks I use range in size from anywhere from a four to ten, anda twelve in a wide gap or octopus hook. I like to use red, gold, blackor chartreuse.

No matter what style of fishing you chose, remember it’s allabout having fun, staying safe and preserving our natural re-sources.

Scott Sklad

elusioncamo.net27

Lime Grilled Salmon RecipeIngredientsJuice of two limes3 tablespoons olive½ teaspoon salt¼ teaspoon black peppersplash of hot pepper sauce (add to taste)3 green onions chopped fine½ teaspoon sugarMakes enough marinade for 4 salmon steaksCombine ingredients and place over salmon steaks in bowl or plastic bag. Refriger-ate for at least 1 hour. Grill salmon steaks over medium flame 4-5 minutes per side.

Crock Pot Duck Recipe

Ingredients:

8 duck breasts –

1 large yellow onion

3 cloves garlic – minced

2 cans cream of chicken soup or mushroom soup

Flour

Creole seasoning

Cracked black pepper

Bacon – 1 package or to taste

Red potatoes – cut in 1 inch chunks

Directions:

Cut up the duck breasts into 2-3 inch chunks. Salt and pepper to taste. Lightly coat duck meat in flour. Melt some butter infrying pan and brown them up fast (don’t overcook). Once browned set aside in bowl. Next cut up bacon, onion, and gar-lic. Cook bacon and brown onions in frying pan adding the garlic for the last minute or so. Set aside in same bowl.

Next cut up potatoes in 1 inch chunks as well and set them in bowl with other ingredients. Mix all ingredients lightly to-gether.

Now in the crock pot place some of the cream of mushroom/chicken soup on the bottom first then a layer of the mixedmeat and potatoes. Repeat this process until all ingredients are used up.

Set the crock pot on low and let it cook for 6-8 hours or so until potatoes are done. Half way through you can take a largespoon and mix everything around.

You can make this crock pot duck recipe early in the morning, go out for a hunt, and come home to a delicious hot meal.

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